Chapter 30: Breakfast With Dexter

Levi woke to the soft clink of porcelain. His body still felt heavy, and his vision didn’t seem to be working well.

A tray sat on the small table beside the bed. Merrick stood over it, his posture rigid, eyes carefully blank. He did not speak. He did not look at Levi longer than necessary. He simply set the tray down, turned, and left, the door clicking shut behind him with quiet finality.

Levi sat up slowly, the sheet slipping to his waist. He stared at the closed door, then at the tray. Something about Merrick felt different this morning, he had felt it, but he could not place his finger on exactly what was different about the servant. It was best he didn’t think too much about, it was probably the suppressants playing with his mind. He filed the observation away and reached for the food.

He ate in silence, when he finished, he rose, gathered fresh clothes, and stepped into the small adjoining washroom to clean the sleep and residual heat from his skin.

The water was cold. He let it run over him until the last of the night’s restlessness washed away, then dried himself with a rough cloth and reached for the clean trousers.

He never got that far.

When he stepped back into the bedroom, still bare, water still beading along his collarbones and trailing down his chest, Dexter was already there.

The third prince sat on the edge of the bed as if he owned it, silver hair falling loose around a face that looked deceptively soft in the morning light. His eyes moved over Levi once, slow and thorough, taking in every wet line of him without shame or hurry.

Levi’s hands flew up on instinct, snatching at the sheet to cover himself.

"Don’t."

Dexter’s voice was quiet and absolute. "You’re legally my husband. You don’t hide from me."

’Oh god.’ Levi thought as he froze, sheet still half-raised. He forced his hands to lower, but the sheet slipped from his fingers and pooled at his feet.

Dexter rose at the same instant and walked forward until Levi’s back met the wall and there was nowhere left to go. The third prince’s scent filled the small space between them, making Levi’s body react in unnatural ways, and leaving him unable to think straight. He lifted one hand and, with a single fingertip, traced the water still beading along Levi’s collarbone, down the center of his chest, over the trembling plane of his stomach.

Levi’s breath hitched, and for a treacherous second his body leaned into the touch before he could stop it.

He caught Dexter’s wrist.

"Why are you here?"

Dexter did not pull free. He simply looked at him, pale eyes steady, the faintest curve at the corner of his mouth.

"To see my mate," he said. "And to have breakfast with him."

Bullshit, Levi thought so loud he feared Dexter might have heard it. You didn’t come here for breakfast.

He was right.

Dexter definitely hadn’t come to just sit and have breakfast with Levi. He had come to sit in this room, in full view of any servant who might report it, and remind the house that the claim was real. That he had made it, and that he was not going to pretend otherwise simply because Kai and their father preferred him silent.

Levi was collateral. If the fallout landed on him, Dexter did not particularly care.

Levi released his wrist and stepped sideways, putting space between them. He reached for the discarded trousers and pulled them on with short, jerky motions, then the shirt, fingers fumbling over the buttons until the claim mark was hidden again beneath fabric. Only when he was covered did he look at Dexter fully.

"Sit," he said. "If you’re here for breakfast, you might as well eat it."

Something almost like surprise flickered across Dexter’s face. Then he moved, graceful and unhurried, and settled into the chair opposite the small table. Levi took the second seat, poured what remained of the tea into a second cup, and pushed it across. They ate in silence for a while. The food was better than anything the east wing usually provided. Levi tasted none of it.

Dexter set his fork down first.

"Which of us do you prefer?"

Levi choked.

He coughed hard, eyes watering, and reached for the water with a hand that was not steady. Prefer. As if this were a choice. As if the bond and the three of them circling him like wolves around a kill left any room for preference.

He set the cup down carefully, staring at the table because he was too scared to look at Dexter immediately after hearing that question

Trap, he thought. He knows it’s a trap. He’s waiting to see which way I jump.

He met Dexter’s eyes and held them for a second. He was definitely not going to give this manipulator the answer he wanted, Levi was too smart to fall for such an obvious bait.

"What if I say it’s you?" he asked. "What would you do?"

Dexter’s mouth curved into a genuinely pleasant smile. He raised his cup, took a sip, and then held Levi’s gaze intensely.

"I would take you back to my rooms," he said, "and remind you why you said it."

Levi’s pulse kicked, his thoughts already running wild with imaginations. But he didn’t falter, he held the stare, determined to not lose. "And if I say Aaron?"

The smile cooled, it didn’t disappear, but Levi could see that it had visibly thinned.

"I would remind you that Aaron is not the one who claimed you. And then I would make certain you remembered the difference." ℯℯ𝘭.

Levi took a second to fully comprehend what the third son had just said. He still didn’t know if it was a threat or not, but it was best if he took it to be a threat. After all, it did sound like one. He swallowed hard, and forced the next question out before the silence could settle too deeply.

"And if I say Kai?"

Dexter’s expression shifted again, this time into something Levi couldn’t immediately decipher. He stared at the omega as if he had just become more than a claimed omega who happened to be in the room.

"I would tell you," Dexter said slowly, "that Kai will never claim you while Father still draws breath. And that wishing for him is the surest way to remain exactly where you are."

He held Levi’s gaze a moment longer, the interest still there, newly sharp. Then he set his fork down with deliberate care and rose.

"Come to my study," he said. "One hour from now, and don’t make me come looking."

Levi stopped for a moment, unsure if he had heard clearly. Was the third prince mad? Or had he completely forgotten about his father’s orders?

"I can’t. If the Alpha finds me in the family wing—"

"I don’t care." Dexter’s voice was soft again and absolute. "You will be there in one hour. Or I will come back to this room and collect you myself. And neither of us will care what my father has to say about it."

He left without waiting for an answer.

’What an insensitive jerk.’ He thought as he lowered his fork to the tray. Not only was he dealing with Merrick’s new attitude, now he had to figure out a way to get to the third prince’s study without getting caught.